'You must really tell me your history some day, Baroni,' said Tancred.

'When my mission has failed. It will perhaps relieve your imprisonment;
at present, I repeat, we must work for a moderate ransom, instead of the
millions of which they talk, and during the negotiation take the chance
of some incident which will more agreeably free us.'

'Ah! I despair of that.'

'I do not, for it is presumptuous to believe that man can foresee the
future, which will be your lordship's case, if you owe your freedom only
to your piastres.'

'But they say that everything is calculation, Baroni.'

'No,' said Baroni, with energy, 'everything is adventure.'

In the meantime the Emir Fakredeen was the prey of contending emotions.
Tancred had from the first, and in an instant, exercised over his
susceptible temperament that magnetic influence to which he was so
strangely subject. In the heart of the wilderness and in the person
of his victim, the young Emir suddenly recognised the heroic character
which he had himself so vaguely and, as it now seemed to him, so vainly
attempted to realise. The appearance and the courage of Tancred, the
thoughtful repose of his manner, his high bearing amid the distressful
circumstances in which he was involved, and the large views which the
few words that had escaped from him on the preceding evening would
intimate that he took of public transactions, completely captivated
Fakredeen, who seemed at length to have found the friend for whom he
had often sighed; the steadfast and commanding spirit, whose control,
he felt conscious, was often required by his quick but whimsical
temperament. And in what relation did he stand to this being whom he
longed to press to his heart, and then go forth with him and conquer
the world? It would not bear contemplation. The arming of the Maronites
became quite a secondary object in comparison with obtaining the
friendship of Tancred. Would that he had not involved himself in this
conspiracy! and yet, but for this conspiracy, Tancred and himself
might never have met. It was impossible to grapple with the question;
circumstances must be watched, and some new combination formed to
extricate both of them from their present perplexed position.

Fakredeen sent one of his attendants in the morning to offer Tancred
horses, should his guest, as is the custom of Englishmen, care to
explore the neighbouring ruins which were celebrated; but Tancred's
wound kept him confined to hi